


Right Person, Wrong Time

by HamstersAndLunchboxes



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Consensual Infidelity, F/F, Pining, That's Not an Exaggeration, enter at your own risk, not the mutual kind, this is all angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 02:12:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14345784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HamstersAndLunchboxes/pseuds/HamstersAndLunchboxes
Summary: Love, Beca Mitchell decides, is not a big deal. It's overrated, honestly.Heartbreak though, she decides. Heartbreak is the most painful, most overwhelming feeling of them all.





	Right Person, Wrong Time

**Author's Note:**

> Someone once told me that writing things down is therapeutic. It's a way to get everything out, sorta. A different someone once told me that my brief foray into the world of love plays out like an extremely angsty fanfiction. Here I am, combining those two things.
> 
> I'm sorry about my lack of updating on...everything else. My depression is sorta taking a toll right now, so this was just to let off some steam.
> 
> This is super AU. High school, Beca's older than Chloe, all kinds of stuff. Because, ya know. Life shit. So uh...hope you masochistic motherh*ckers enjoy.
> 
> (PS, Sheetz is a gas station/fast food place on the East Coast for anyone unaware.)

_ It was the right person but the wrong time _

_ Move on, and maybe go back to each other _

_ If it’s meant to be _

_ But you need to move on now because _

_ You have a lot to offer someone and _

_ You’re worth more than you think. _

-Someone Very Dear to Me

 

***

 

Love, Beca Mitchell decides, is not as big a deal as everyone makes it out to be. It’s her sophomore year, all of her friends have boyfriends, and she just wonders  _ why. _ They constantly complain about them, and that isn’t an exaggeration in any sense. Stacie goes through boys like tissue paper. Fat Amy has this weird on again/off again thing with Bumper Allen that their entire little group has been trying to figure out the logistics of for  _ months _ (also not an exaggeration). Jesse has a steady girlfriend, but things with them are often messy because she’s rather controlling. Benji fawns over the new freshman, Emily, but insists he’s too preoccupied with schoolwork to even attempt to juggle a relationship. So Beca acts like she gets the big deal about the ‘L’ word.

Except, she doesn’t. Because they’re all  _ miserable _ and always busy and they never have time for each other anymore.

So love isn’t a big deal, Beca decides. It tears apart friendships, and it makes people sad, and honestly? She’s better off without. As far as she knows.

(Beca’s only foray into the world of ‘love’ and ‘dating’ was in seventh grade with Jesse. He had asked her out in sixth grade, but she made him wait until October of their first year in middle school for an answer. It was awkward and weird and the only thing that made them a couple was the fact that she wore his hoodie.)

And so maybe Beca doesn’t really have any idea what she’s talking about. It doesn’t matter though. She has her friends and her music. Between her passion and her platonic relationships, Beca thinks that’s what really matters in high school. The friendships you make and build, not some shoddy relationship that might last until the inevitable day of graduation. So what the hell is the point?

Beca can’t find it, or else she’d tell you.

 

***

 

Nothing is supposed to happen in junior year. That’s sort of the consensus Beca’s gotten from the upperclassmen. Junior year is sort of just…a limbo. It’s not as important as senior year, but it’s not one where you can slack off either. Colleges start to pay attention to your work. It’s probably the hardest year in terms of classes.

But really. Nothing  _ notable _ happens junior year.

Nothing changes in Beca’s group of friends. Stacie still chews up boys and spits them out. Jesse is still hanging on to his long term relationship, even though everyone tells him he should break up with her. Amy and Bumper still play the ‘will we/won’t we’ game. And Benji chases after now-sophomore Emily Junk.

Everything is painfully stale and uneventful. 

Beca sort of just wishes something exciting would happen. The most interesting thing to happen during the first half of their junior year is Beca’s developing friendship with Luke Morgan, a sophomore who made it into the chamber choir class. They’re also in the musical together, Luke playing the lead.

(Okay, Beca’s not  _ in _ the musical. She wouldn’t be caught dead in a rendition of  _ Grease _ , but she’s the Stage Manager and the student director, and Benji’s on stage crew with her. Emily’s mom is the director, and Beca thinks he sucks up a little too much, but she lets it slide. He’s crushing hard. Everyone does eventually, she thinks.)

Her friends make fun of her for having a crush on him, and maybe she does, a little bit, but Luke is genuinely sweet and funny. He’s cute too, she guesses, if you’re into that sort of thing. But the jabs roll off her back like water because he’s the first new friend she’s made in a long time.

Beca supposes it’s something.

 

***

 

February 16, in her junior year.

That’s the day Beca’s life changes.

If she could go back in time and warn herself about the upcoming events, she would. 

If she could go back in time and never cross paths with Chloe Beale?

 

***

 

She’d do that, too.

 

***

 

Everyone just sort of  _ knows _ Chloe Beale. She’s only a sophomore, a year behind Beca, but she’s absolutely gorgeous. Beca’s straight, but she has eyes. Chloe’s incredibly attractive, and that’s the end of that. She has a boyfriend, Tom something, and Beca doesn’t really picture them together at all, but they’ve been with each other for a while, so who’s she to comment on it. Chloe can also sing like a nightingale and her personality shines like the sun and everyone just sort of gravitates to Chloe.

It’s inevitable, really, that Beca gravitates to her, too.

 

***

 

They have two classes together. Chamber choir and a theater class. Beca’s only taking the theater class for a tech credit, and Jesse and Stacie are in there with her, so it’s bearable. She genuinely enjoys chamber choir, because that’s the one consistent class that all of her friends take. They’ve all been blessed with competent singing voices, and the instructor is laidback, so chamber choir is actually…well, fun.

Chloe’s also in the musical. Beca knows she’s there, even if she’s never said a word to her. The redhead is always with that boyfriend of hers, Tom, who’s playing some background greaser role with a few other sophomore boys. Chloe herself is playing Sandy, no surprise. She has her little group of friends, and Beca has hers. They’re two parallel lines, running the same course, never to intersect.

At least, that’s what Beca thinks.

 

***

 

Mrs. Abernathy-McKadden (the choir  _ and _ theater teacher) assigns a project on some oddball week at the beginning of February. It’s stupid, really. A PowerPoint put together with a song in the background, representing your life. Or a song playing while you do a little performance that embodies the concept of  _ you. _ A little get-to-know-your-classmates thing.

Beca thinks it’s dumb. It’s February, for Christ’s sake. The school year is more than halfway over, why does McKadden want them to make new friends?

Oh well. At least Beca can make a joke out of it.

 

***

 

Beca plays a corny version of  ‘Jesus Loves Me’ while reading the Bible.

Everyone laughs and she gets an ‘A’, so she considers it a job well done.

 

***

 

Chloe plays some obscure song that Beca’s only heard once or twice, and plays it to a PowerPoint. She makes jokes and shows a lot of pictures of dogs, and Beca actually laughs when she says something funny.

Jesse and Stacie look at her like she’s fallen from outer space.

 

***

 

After Chloe’s done, Beca tells her that she did a good job. They’re the first words she’s ever said to the redhead.

She smiles a shy smile, something Beca never imagined Chloe being.  _ Shy. _ When she mumbled a quiet ‘thank you’ and went back to sit with her friends (Emily and some blonde chick named Aubrey), Beca wonders why she can’t wipe the stupid matching grin off of her face.

 

***

 

The theater class is also putting on the middle school talent show, McKadden had decided, way back in January. It’ll be in the middle of February, so it doesn’t cross with the musical. Tryouts barely interfere with practices, and run throughs aren’t until the week of the fourteenth, so Mrs. Junk doesn’t mind pushing back one of her practice slots to 5:30 so the theater class can get through tryouts.

It’s sort of funny, how Chloe and Beca properly meet the week of Valentine’s Day.

 

***

 

Beca is not an empathetic person. Empathy isn’t found through her genes; she doesn’t tend to care when other people are upset. She’s numb to it, in her mind. Her friends are always upset about their relationships and she learned to internalize the pain from her parents’ divorce years ago. Sure, she’ll comfort her friends, somewhat awkwardly, if they’re sad. But random people that she’s barely spoken to? Not her business.

When Chloe Beale walks into the auditorium, wiping away tears, Beca hones in on her almost instantly. The tryouts had just ended for the middle school talent show, and they were evolving into a musical practice. The redhead is only a good five or six feet away from her, and it’s not obvious that she’s been crying, but she definitely had been. Her voice is a little hoarse, and her eyes are red, and her neck is splotchy, and this is  _ not _ Beca’s forte.

Mrs. Abernathy-McKadden had left as Mrs. Junk swept in, declaring they would be going over ‘Greased Lightning’, which was a scene without Sandy. Without Chloe. 

Beca’s feet are pulling her towards the girl and before Beca can even think of anything to say, she’s standing directly in front of her. Chloe’s looking at her expectantly, waiting. Beca wants to die, right there.

“You’re crying,” she says.  _ Nice one, Mitchell _ .

Chloe lets out a little laugh, and shakes her head. “I was,” she corrects.

Beca rocks on her heels, her hands stuffed into the pockets of her skinny jeans. “You know, I don’t like it when people are sad at my musical practices.”

“I wasn’t aware this was  _ your _ musical practice.”

“Well, now you are.”

“You don’t have to worry about it. I’m okay now, just really stressed out.”

“That’s not very convincing,” Beca shoots back and wonders why the hell her mouth is still moving. “We can sit down? I-I mean, we don’t have to talk about it, but I know you aren’t in this scene, and I really don’t like it when people cry, I actually get super uncomfortable, so I feel like it’s my job to-”

But Chloe is laughing and rolling her (less) puffy eyes. “Shut up,” she says, but she grabs Beca’s wrist and drags them to some chairs near the front of the auditorium so they can watch the boys practice on stage.

That’s sort of how it all begins.

Chloe and Beca talk for around an hour, which is super odd considering Beca doesn’t really have many conversations with people she doesn’t know well. Most of their talk, though, is Chloe sharing some really NSFW things about her middle school years, and all Beca can do is sit there in muted shock, with a few interjections. It’s weird. It’s definitely the weirdest conversation Beca’s ever had, and she’s pretty sure if it were anyone else, Beca would have bolted the moment the word ‘blowjob’ was mentioned. Beca hated talking about sex and hated people touching her. But Chloe was talking about the birds and the bees and grabbing Beca’s forearm when she made incredulous faces at the redhead’s tales, and somehow, Beca really didn’t mind.

That should have been her first red flag.

 

***

 

They became friends. And Chloe was a  _ really _ touchy friend.

That should have been Beca’s second red flag.

 

***

 

They’re playing theater games one day in class, and Beca  _ hates _ this particular game. 

“Theater is acting and being comfortable with other actors, no matter what happens on stage or on screen. In this exercise, we’re going to see how much you can handle, as actors and actresses.” That was what McKadden had said.

Beca considered pretending to yak up her lunch for a whole three seconds before she was laughing at Jesse’s bright red face while some freshman sat on his lap and caressed his face.

When Beca was up, she really wasn’t worried about it. She knew the general populous of the theater class well enough, and Stacie had just been on the Stool of Embarrassment, so she was picking who would get to mess with Beca. She didn’t bank on Stacie picking Chloe.

Beca had yet to get used to Chloe’s absent touches and hand holding and lap sitting. It was weird, sure, but Chloe was a touchy person, and they were friends she guessed.

(One time, at musical practice, Beca came out of the costume closet in a black Grim Reaper mask and approached the piano that the cast was at. After Chloe figured out who was behind the mask, she grabbed Beca’s head and pulled her forward, kissing her forehead.

Beca didn’t stop thinking about that moment or  _ why _ it had happened until she fell asleep that night.)

So Beca sits in the Stool of Embarrassment with Chloe on her lap, who runs her hands everywhere. Through Beca’s hair, over her arms, down her cheeks and neck. Beca keeps her jaw clenched and her face stoic through it all, though her cheeks burning something fierce. The whole class is cackling, but Beca doesn’t crack. The entire ordeal lasts about a minute until Mrs. Abernathy-McKadden grants her mercy.

Beca still sits down by Chloe once her turn is up. 

And as Chloe laces their fingers together, Beca pretends not to notice how warm her cheeks stay.

 

***

 

“I’m going to kiss you.”

It’s said absently, at a musical practice one day, behind the curtain. Chloe’s fiddling with the hem of her dress while whoever on stage is singing.

Beca’s scrolling through Instagram, and her thumb twitches at the words. She doesn’t know if she heard right. “What?”

“I said, I’m going to kiss you.”

“Uh, yeah, that’s what I thought you said,” Beca laughs, but her cheeks are warm. “No, you won’t.”

“Why not?” Chloe challenges.

“Because you have a boyfriend?”

Chloe wrinkles her nose. “Not like that. Like, platonic kissing, silly.”

And then she’s flouncing on stage, instantly in character.

“Yeah, uh, that’s not a thing!” Beca hisses at her back, but she doesn’t think Chloe hears a word.

 

***

 

So Beca’s never really interacted with Tom Bradshaw. Or interacted with Chloe when she’s with Tom. Beca doesn’t even know if Tom knows that she and Chloe are friends. It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Beca doesn’t have an opinion on Tom. He’s average looking, she guesses, and he definitely overestimates his singing ability, and he’s sort of boisterous and annoying  _ all the time. _

But Beca doesn’t have an opinion on Tom.

 

***

 

Apparently, Chloe wasn’t kidding about the whole ‘I’m going to kiss you’ thing. It becomes a game, almost. During musical practices, she’ll always try to catch Beca off-guard, but Beca’s pretty good at dodging the onslaught of smooches coming her way. There’s a close call, once, where Chloe claims she gets Beca on the lips rather than the cheek, which is pretty much where all the would-be kisses land.

Beca denies; the kiss landed right above her upper lip, no mouth to mouth contact. Chloe is insistent, but Beca ends up winning the argument when Chloe concedes.

Whether Beca actually believes herself or just wants the game to continue? Well, that’s the real debate.

 

***

 

It finally happens in the old prop closet, a floor above the stage. 

There’s a rumor, that the ground of the old prop closet drops off into the basement, a pretty hefty fall. Upperclassmen call it the Cliff. So sue Beca for being curious. It’s not her fault Chloe follows.

They’re climbing over old auditorium chairs, and Beca gets stuck. Her foot is wedged between the seat and seat back, and she’s trying to prop herself to get further back into the closet. Chloe is trying to cover up her laughter and failing miserably.

“What?” Beca snaps, but it’s good-natured and she’s scowling playfully at the redhead.

Beca realizes too late.

The smile vanishes from Chloe’s lips, and then they’re against Beca’s, for a moment. Then Chloe pulls back and she’s grinning victoriously. “Hah!”

It was barely a kiss. A brief contact, maybe a fourth of a second long. Chaste and quick. It shouldn’t have mattered. Except, it was sort of Beca’s first kiss, and her head is reeling and  _ what just happened. _

To her credit, Beca rolls her eyes and mutters ‘you’re such a dork’ before yanking her foot back and crawling across to the chairs to the supposed Cliff. And yeah, there it is, a few feet back. The floor just drops off into a nice, black hole.

Beca stands on the chairs, one hand braced against the wall. “I wonder what would happen if I jumped,” she jokes. Chloe’s peering forward, a little bit past her.

“Don’t,” is all she says, and when she pulls back, another peck lands on Beca’s lips.

So maybe it’s something she’ll have to get used to with Chloe.

Chloe’s leading the way out when she stops at the prop closet door and turns out, grinning. “So, I won.”

“Congrats,” Beca says dryly. “You got me.”

“What’s my prize?”

Beca raises an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware there was one.”

“Well,” she hums, looping her arms around Beca’s neck, “how about…we make this a thing?”

“I think I’ll pass.”

“Too bad!” The pressure on Beca’s lips lasts a bit longer than the last two, long enough for Beca to shut her eyes before Chloe’s pulling back and giggling, racing down the stairs.

“Yeah, this isn’t gonna be a thing!” Beca calls after her as she follows, shutting the door to the old prop closet.

So, it’s definitely going to be a thing.

**Author's Note:**

> We haven't even brushed the angst yet, friends...oh boy.
> 
> Leave a kudos if you enjoyed, and a comment if I should keep posting!


End file.
